Extraordinary Meals

Christmas holidays are a time when you get to eat a LOT of food, but they are not necessarily extraordinary meals. Perhaps the paella was superb, but the lechon was stale. The caviar pie was divine, yet the wine, not so much. Buffet upon buffet upon buffet, signifying nothing.

Do you remember the last time you had a truly excellent, truly extraordinary meal?

My memories of extraordinary meals did not necessarily have to do with special holiday; most of my extraordinary meals were surrounded by most ordinary circumstances.

For instance.

While in Las Vegas 2009 for my uber cool dad's 80th birthday, my sister Margie booked us a table at Blush at the Wynn, a very hip bar where tables mean bottle service. And it being the City of Sin, where prices are just another number, each bottle of whatever you want costs US$500 each.

We were 20+ strong, comprising siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and even nephews, so of course they required us to get 2 bottles. Ouch.

At least it comes with mixers and a sexy cocktail server to pour your drinks (to make you buy more bottles).

So by the end of the night, after we had consumed 3 bottles of Grey Goose, very generously donated by brother in law Jack (thanks again Jack!) who says memories have no price, we were STARVING.

So we went off to a place in the hotel that was open for a late night meal.

OMG.

I'm not saying this because I was drunk, but we ordered the most delicious, most satisfying, should be considered a tourist must on your to-do list, steak and eggs I've ever had. I will never forget it. Steak and eggs, next time I am in Vegas I'm coming to visit you!

Sorry, I don't have photos of that meal, as I was not in bloggin mode then, only eating mode. Instead, I am going to treat you with another one of these kinds of meals while we were in Paris: La Rotisserie du Beaujolais.

Manda and I decided to spend Day 2 touring museums such as the Rodin and the D'Orsay and to make up for missing dinner, eat at a real restaurant as suggested by the American based in Paris, David Lebovitz. Manda did her foodie research, thank goodness!

We walked all the way in search of Quai de la Tournelle, where it was located, and we were not disappointed. It being a late hour, the restaurant was near empty.

happy campers high on Paris

the menus to choose from are written on blackboards on the wall

view from our table towards the Right Bank

We each got an aperitif, kir royale, I ordered my favorite escargot as our appetizer and we opted for one of their specialties, the duck good for two. My goodness, when we saw this, we wondered, "Is that duck just for us???"

his goose, or should I say duck, is cooked

As we drank our aperitifs, we began to get very tipsy, especially on the cherries laden with alcohol

 check out the cherry bombs

We ate the most wonderful, crusty bread, but careful not to overdo it, as we kept eying the duck roasting on the spit. No one else was in the restaurant, so it must have been for us!

 the open kitchen. Look at the size of that toque!

this is what you call slow food

The escargot arrived, and these were huge, fat babies that seemed just plucked out of the backyard garden. Sooo good to dip the bread into that green goodness.

Grab shell dude

Then finally, our duck was done. And what a lovely roasted duck it was. They were going to serve it two ways: roasted and grilled. 

congratulations, your huge meal is about to commence!

the wine we had with our meal

The most exquisite duck breast served with a fig reduction and potato hay. You would trade your first born child for this dish. I swear!

We were too stuffed to eat the second course, but we had to try it. Grilled chicken leg served with a side mesclun salad. 

Which would you prefer?

No room for dessert, but we were already so happy from the food, the wine, the atmosphere, being in Paris in the fall- everything. Check out the house cat, eponymously named Beaujolais- he must get all the leftovers!

Should you ever go to Paris this year, you must make this a stop on your itinerary. Now this is what you call an extraordinary meal with an extraordinary friend.

Fabulous French Food From France

This month, the January issue of the Philippine Tatler comes out and inside is a feature of the beautiful wedding of Martin Argosino and Leica Carpo. It was a wedding dreams are made of: getting lost in the Luberon, gettting drenched in Avignon, losing a glove, finding flowers, interesting boutiques, complimentary L'Occitane toiletries, a church as cold as a tomb (but beautiful), new friends and old, a DJ who looked like Ving Rhames...

Just looking at it made me reminisce of all things French, especially the food. Ohhhh, the glorious food. Butter, foie gras, truffle oil, you name it. Food so good, even my grazing friend Amanda halfed a duck with me.

So dear readers, as a special treat as well as an agony of sorts, I am giving you a very special series of postings on "What I Ate When I Was There."

Enjoy and please don't drool on your keyboard ala Electric Dreams. That's soooo 1980's!

First, our charming hotel on the Rive Gauche in the Saint Germain de Pres district, Hotel Clement. We walked all the way here from our Luxembourg RER train stop because frankly, there are no taxis at 6AM. Good thing it was close by- my poor luggage looked kawawa compared to Manda's shiny, upright, polycarbon German-made Rimowa.

 What transportation strike?

We totally maxed out first day out, getting a feel of our new neighborhood which culminated in a touristy lunch that I am too embarrassed to post here even though I took a picture of it. Instead, enjoy the wintry colors of the Lauduree window display in the St Germain de Pres district. It's a new one and they didn't let me take a photo inside, phooey.

 So we bought a box of the assorted instead. And this little box of macarons saved our lives that night.

"How?" you may wonder. Can a box of macarons really stop a thief from stealing your wallet as he holds a knife to your throat? "Oooh lala! Laduree! Okay, I'll let you go this time..."

No. Actually we were exhausted by 6PM and decided to take a nap, saying "We'll wake up for dinner!" Biiigggg mistake. We woke up at 2AM and everything was closed! So we Facebooked and Manda Skyped until about 4AM then we fell asleep. We were the first ones down at the breakfast buffet, it was still so dark outside and only 6AM. Talk about heaven...

boil your own eggs

 bread basket of pastries

 the most delicious processed cheese in a little packet ever

 all the Nutella you can eat and jam flavors such as boysenberry

 fresh fruit and yogurt.....

We learned our lesson this morning- to respect the coffee. We both drank two cups each and the rest of the day we were super hyper. Manda freaked out a little (read: a lot) about getting a document faxed as she Skyped her Manila office. 

Promise, i'll show you real food tomorrow. Au revoir!

January is for Japanese BGC hits

Happy New Year dear friends and fellow gourmands!

I know I have been remiss the past year, my last post being July 2010 (I'm terrible and useless, yes, I know). I have been to many a restaurant last year without any intention of blogging about it.

Did you know there was such a thing as blogger's fatigue? Much like writer's block, it became very annoying to me when, after taking the photos of the food, I began to dread having to clean the photos, resize them etc etc then upload them. Then, I would find myself with hardly any energy to write about the food!

So, I stopped blogging altogether.

I even grew weary of having to photograph the food and I would purposely forget to even bring my camera!

On the opening day of Wee Nam Kee, which I only found out I was going to attend 5 minutes before the thing itself, I was a bit tired from the festivities of the evening before. When we arrived at the restaurant, which is only a little bit bigger than a bathroom, it was a media circus and an extra headache to a hangover.

All sorts of media were there, most specifically, fellow bloggers. Now, I was not there for this blog, I was there for my day job, and seeing a gazillion bloggers in one big blogstravaganza was a first for me.

They oohed and ahhed over the kinds of chicken (soy, steamed and roasted).
I just ate whatever had some skin and didn't look like an ass or a neck.

When the cereal prawns came, they giggled like children at Christmas. And even while the prawns were gone, they ate the cereal by itself.
I found the cereal prawns a bit dry, now what cereal without milk in God's good world wouldn't be?

So after watching everyone indulge in this chicken-rice fest, I did feel better after eating the greasy, salty, spicy chicken and its rice counterpart. But I slipped away and did my day job without. blogging. once.

We tried to go back to Wee Nam Kee but were number 50 on the frigging waitlist. 50???? The next morning we would get a table you mean????

We No Like Wee Nam Kee No More.

But one of my New Year's resolutions is to "blog more," so here is a feast of all things yummy and Japanese. And it being my son's 6th birthday, I am taking him to Sugi with his Dada and Lolo Manito so he can eat his favorite beef teriyaki.

Enjoy and Banzai!

The first:
Jozu Kin, located at Burgos Circle Fort Bonifacio Global City.
Fusion Japanese.
Affordable.
Service, could be improved.

 Grilled prawns

Tempura sushi

 Spicy tuna with wasabi mayo and tempura flakes (aka the Bomb!)

 Seared scallop with truffle oil

 Foie gras sushi with mango

Steak teppanyaki

When Jozu Kin first opened, we couldn't get enough. Umami was seeping out of every food item. Even things such as pasta with Parmesan black pepper sauce that seemed out of place still had the umami factor. When a restaurant is new, flawed service is pardoned. As time goes on, it is unforgivable. The food remains the same but there is nothing like good, old fashioned Japanese dining. Forget the fusion.

Next: Toki
Fusion Japanese, located at Fort Bonifacio Global City.
Set meals a good value.
Weird things such as pizza tonkatsu available too.

 hamachi sashimi

 set menu for Php470: Tempura, hot soba, fruits and pickles

Toki seemed ideal with its nice location and top reviews. Unfortunately, during the holidays, it had funky karaoke house kind of Christmas decor going on. Also, my Japanese food partner Amy and I opted for sushi and set menus instead of the ala carte. Pretty reasonable.

Next: Keizo, at Burgos Circle, BGC.

Affordable.

Authentic hole in the wall type place, but clean.

Get the specials on the white board.

 Edamame appetizers

 free kani salad amuse bouche 

my favorite: ebi fry curry

Perfect for a rough night of drinking, I always enjoy Keizo, both for its authentic flavors and Japanese chefs behind the counter as well as its hole-in-the-wall-yet-air-conditioned appeal. I used to eat this kind of cuisine when I was living in LA. There are small restaurants, usually serving only one type of food, such as sushi, curry or soba. But all are yummy and usually very affordable, just like this place. 

The last time I ate here was right after elections. The joint was jumping (there are only few tables after all) and when we stepped outside, who should we see eating in the dark on a table for two was Manny Villar. Hey man, if I had registered, I would've voted for you!

Jozu Kin: +632.403.1875

Toki Japanese Fusion and Fine Dining: +632.856.7295; 856.9528

Keizo: +632.403.3939

Mmmmmmasseto

Don't you love finding out about a secret address before everyone else?

Masseto, the wine lounge-cum-restaurant, is well-known amongst the wine aficionado set and is fast becoming the preferred resto of choice amongst the ladies-who-lunch-and-sometimes-enjoy-a-tipple-or-two set. Headed by executive chef Tippi Tambunting (who also owns the catering arm, Saltine), the food is simply presented yet utterly delectable.

My first time here, I was very impressed with the plush interiors done by Maja Olivares-Co but wasn't used to the spare plating sans garnishing. But like all things, the culinary world has its own trends and apparently the spare, albeit clean plate is one currently ongoing (remember my Alain Ducasse entry?).

Needless to say, Masseto grew on me and after doing a shoot for Tatler with Billy and Eliza Valtos who love both the food and wine, I came to a better understanding of it.

Of course, the wines are divine. They store their most expensive ones in the vault (the space where Masseto is used to be Security Bank). Talk about precious cargo!

So when my girlfriends wanted to get together and also celebrate my birthday (Trisha O, Trisha B and Moe- thanks and till the next time!) I suggested to introduce them to Masseto.

As a venue in which to enjoy wine, the pica-pica is superb.

Highly addicting parmesan crisps with goat cheese

Chorizo fritters 

Bacalao fritters with garlic sauce

I don't know how Tippi does it, but all of these appetizers were crisp, tasty and not at all oily, and went perfectly with a crisp white wine. But of all the dishes on Tippi's menu, I must say I love this the most. Its Bottarga (Italian roe) pasta:

Because of this, I ended up buying a bunch of ready to eat packs of Bottarga when I was at Muji in Hong Kong :)

Then Tippi treated me to Strawberry Pavlova for my birthday. (Thanks again Tippi!)

I haven't been here since then, but Margie had gone recently with some girlfriends and Tippi served them lobster that wasn't even on the menu....fantastic! I heart you Masseto!

Masseto
114 Valero Street
Salcedo Village
Tel +632.810.3565

Getting a room at Apt 1B

I'm baaaaccckk!

Yes, back to Apartment 1B, my friendly Salcedo neighborhood hangout. This time, Marga and Amy treated me for my actual birthday and we had brunch and dalandan juice.

Now, Apartment 1B has got to have one of the best damn brunches in town- everyday, except Sunday (weirdly) and until 3PM! Yes, you heard right folks, I said 3PM!

I always end up ordering the same thing.   

Here's that dalandan soda that I adore!

Of the three brunch meals, can you guess who ordered what?

Carnivores delight

Eggs Benedict with Canadian ham

Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and spinach

I made my photos extra big for you to salivate over. Just look at that hollandaise sauce! Sometimes I split this with Kate so we can get dessert too. Missing Kate here!

So did you guess?

Marga (in the middle) opted for the the first brunch. Amy (on the right) got the eggs Benedict with Canadian ham, always the ham. So that leaves me with the smoked salmon option. In the States, sometimes brunch menu items say they have salmon so I get eggscited and order it only to find out its not smoked salmon, but regular salmon ew.

But not at Apt 1B- they give you the good stuff! 

But we also had dessert- sin- which is why I probably didn't have dinner that night:

This multi-layered crepe cake grew on us

Deadly turtle pie

 Thank you ladies! And for the lovely pressies as well, ones that I use all the time and get many compliments on :) Love you!

P.S. Hi Robbie Dinglasan, thank you for inspiring me to finally post this entry today. Glad you enjoyed the Apartment!